1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a select dial of a camera which is provided with a click-stop mechanism wherein the select dial rotates stepwise.
2. Description of the Related Art
A select dial provided on a camera for selecting, e.g., a desired shutter speed among a predetermined number of shutter speeds is well-known. Such a select dial is generally provided with a click-stop mechanism wherein the select dial rotates stepwise. With the click-stop mechanism, the rotational angle of each step of the select dial is determined by a plurality of predetermined click-stop positions. A click-stop mechanism for such a select dial which is provided with a plurality of engaging holes arranged on a common circumference and a click ball engaged with any one of the plurality of engaging holes is known in art. In this type of click-stop mechanism, the number of click-stop positions of the select dial are identical to the number of the engaging holes. Therefore, to increase the number of click-stop positions of the select dial, only the number of engaging holes has to be increased.
However, since the plurality of engaging holes are generally arranged at regular intervals on a common circumference about the rotational center of the select dial, in order to increase the number of engaging holes it is necessary to increase the radius of the circumference, which requires the select dial to have a large diameter.
Therefore, the select dial needs to be large and consumes a large space on the camera body, which is not desirable for a compact camera design.